1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for improving the quality of machine translation.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a result of significant advances in global electronic communication, demand for machine translation from one language to another is increasing. A machine translation is performed by using a computer to replace character (term) with another character (term), by analyzing the characters and applying dictionary data or a predetermined algorithm to thereby translate from a specific language to a different language. If a text is not stored in a computer-readable format, in other words, if character information such as JIS code is not included in the text, prior to translation process, it is necessary to perform an OCR process for reading a printed text by a scanner device, to perform a character recognition process, and to extract character information.
One advantage of machine translation is that it is possible to translate a large document in a short time; a disadvantage is that the quality of the translated document is usually of a relatively low standard. One example of this disadvantage is that it is difficult in a machine translation to translate a proper noun. When a proper noun included in a tourist pamphlet, such as a place name, a station name, a personal name, or a company name, which must remain in its original form is translated, the translated text will not contain information that is critical for a reader. Also, a word which is essentially rooted in a particular culture can not be properly translated. A case frequently occurs wherein a person who is unfamiliar with the particular culture will not be able to interpret the essential meaning of the word. In other words, a conventional machine translation only allows a translation process to take place in a manner of direct translation wherein a simple substitution by a translation registered in the dictionary data is performed; thus, according to conventional translation, it is not possible to accurately make a determination as to whether the word to be translated is a proper noun, and whether the word is to remain in its original form without being translated. As the result of unsuitable translation, a user is required to check a document after a machine translation has been performed and to make corrections for every word, so identified. The task of performing a correction of a translated document places an added burden on a user and decreases the benefit gained from performing a high speed machine translation.